Research

Seed Grants for CAS faculty

Five College of Arts & Sciences received a 2023 New Faculty Seed Grant from the WSU Office of Research. The grant program supports junior faculty in developing research, scholarly, or creative programs that lead to sustained professional development and external funding. The program is sponsored by the Office of Research and the Office of the […]

Expert in temperament development to chair psychology department

Professor Maria “Masha” Gartstein has been appointed to serve as chair of the WSU Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) beginning August 16, 2023. Gartstein, an expert in developmental psychology, currently directs the Clinical Training Program in psychology and heads the Infant Temperament Laboratory while also teaching graduate and undergraduate […]

Asian clams’ spread in Columbia River warns of worse invaders

The invasive Asian clam is more common in the lower Columbia River than its native habitat of southeast Asia, according to a study of the clam’s abundance in the river. The findings don’t bode well for potential future invasions by the even more destructive quagga and zebra mussels. So far, the Columbia is one of […]

Historian honored for Fallen Cougars project

For his role in introducing Washington State University students to World War II library archival research, Associate Professor of History Raymond Sun has been named the 2023 recipient of the WSU Libraries’ Excellence Award. The award recognizes a non-library WSU faculty or staff member who has shown consistent support for the WSU Libraries. Recipients are […]

History senior to speak at World War II conference, travel to Normandy

History scholar and 2023 WSU graduate Alicia Callahan’s Honors College thesis about the heroic efforts of World War II soldiers has drawn national attention, earning her a summer speaking engagement in Washington, D.C., and a trip to Normandy, France. Callahan, who was honored as this year’s Department of History Outstanding Senior, will present her thesis about the U.S. Army’s heroic 6th Armored Division’s service […]

Q&A with Audry Almeria

Raised in an Air Force family, Audrey Almeria has spent her life traveling and living all over the world, and she even graduated high school in Misawa, Japan. But she has found a home at Washington State University, where she is double majoring in psychology and neuroscience and will graduate this coming spring. When she […]

Butterfly researcher to present Distinguished Faculty Address

Cheryl Schultz helped put the Fender’s blue butterfly on the road to recovery, from a low of about 1,000 butterflies in its Oregon habitat to 20,000 to 30,000 butterflies today. It’s a rare success story of an insect that has been downlisted from endangered to threatened, made possible, she said, by science, partnerships, and time.  Schultz, […]

Preserving the Puget Sound shoreline

Washington State University is partnering with conservation organizations to protect an ecologically important portion of Puget Sound shoreline along Henderson Inlet, south of Olympia. The agreement between Capitol Land Trust (CLT), WSU, and affiliated groups, including the Squaxin Island Tribe, will also provide environmental research and education opportunities to the entire region. The land trust […]

$1.89M NIH grant to advance research in rapid evolution

What if scientists could have the funding to explore new directions of research free from the initial goals written into many grants? With a recent $1.89 million Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award from the National Institutes of Health, Seth Rudman has that opportunity. Rudman is an assistant professor in WSU Vancouver’s School of Biological Sciences. MIRA […]

Research to recover rare earth elements

Xiaofeng Guo, assistant professor of chemistry, is part of a national team of scientists who recently received $39 million to develop market-ready technologies to increase domestic supplies of elements necessary for the transition to clean energy. He will be investigating how supercritical carbon dioxide could be used to recover critical elements, especially rare earth elements, […]